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A 

Perpetual Income 

from 

Date Palms 






1914 
Reed -Williams Corporation 

Black Building 
Los Angeles, California 






Copyright, 1914 
by J. W. Reed 

TRANSFi:n«ED TfiOV. 
OOr'VHiaHT CFIiOE 

MAR -9 1315 



NC; 23 1914 



A Prophecy and Proof 

An income of $5,000.00 a year for you for more than a cen- 
tury can be yielded from a full-bearing five-acre date orchard here 
in Southern California, and the value of each acre of such an 
orchard should be five thousand dollars. 

This statement must interest you — as it did me. The more I 
thought about it the more interested I became. But for the fact 
that this statement was made by men who have made an exhaust- 
ive study of the subject of date growing, both in the old 
world and here in Southern California and Arizona, I would 
consider it greatly exaggerated. I frankly admit that the state- 
ment is the most astounding one I have ever heard in conjunction 
with profits to be derived from investment in land; nor was I 
aware that California's soil was adapted to the commercial culti- 
vation of this Oriental fruit — so I decided to carefully investigate 
the subject. 

For I know that, if this statement were true, such a heritage 
would be far more stable and beneficial to me, as well as to my 
children, than a good many thousand dollars invested in life in- 
surance. I compared this production of $5,000.00 a year from 
only five acres of date palms with various kinds of other 
investments I was familiar with through my thirty odd years' ex- 
perience as a banker and land owner — the comparison makes the 
statement more startling. Every other agricultural investment I 
have known, even those where much greater acreage was em- 
ployed, and in the most bountiful years and under the most favor- 
able conditions, are incomparable with this statement of the 
revenue which may be derived from date growing. 

My investigation thus far convinces me that a return of 
$5,000.00 from a matured five -acre date garden in Califor- 
nia is a reasonably conservative statement, even greater returns 
being yielded to-day in Arabia, Mesopotamia and North Africa, 



including Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco — where all palms im- 
ported into California were obtained, many fully matured palms 
bearing three hundred to six hundred pounds of fruit each. Simi- 
larly remarkable date crops are being harvested in the United 
States, the fruit of one tree owned by Mr. Fred Johnson of Indio, 
California, in this year of 1914, embraces sixteen large bunches 
which, I am told, Mr. Johnston has sold under contract for $1.00 
per pound. 

I find it also interesting to learn that the date palm is some- 
thing more than a fruit tree which furnishes the principal means 
of existence to hundreds of thousands of people, namely, to the 
Arab; it is a sacred institution identified with the Semitic race 
since the dawn of history and consecrated by Mohammed, both 
in his public and private life. In these countries date gardens 
have been the chief source of food supply, year in and year out, 
for 500 to 2,000 years. 

Many of the foremost tree-culture experts in America have 
for several years been giving the subject of date culture 
much consideration, and have taken great pains in its investiga- 
tion here and in the old world. The Government of the United 
States has for some years maintained an experimental date gar- 
den in the Salton Basin of Southern California, because it realizes 
the worth of the palm as a staple food-producer. 

In the Atlantic Monthly for August, 1914, appears an article 
entitled "The Agriculture of the Garden of Eden." This article 
was written by J. Russell Smith, a Professor in the State Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, and a tree-culture expert. It is very inter- 
esting reading and unquestionably one of the strongest commen- 
taries that I have seen in my search for authentic information on 
the subject of date growing — the greatest incentive to the move- 
ment "back to the farm," or rather back to conditions which 
prevailed in the Garden of Eden before the expulsion of Adam 
and Eve; so I give it here, in part, as the unbiased, impartial 
opinion of a man whose work in this line is widely appreciated: — 



Some Date-Palm History 

"The story of the Garden of Eden has been extensively used 
by those who would influence human action. But strange to say 
one of the most evident lessons appears to have been overlooked. 
It is for the farmer that the well-known drama has the plainest 
teaching of all. The race has been subjected to needless toil be- 
cause the agriculturist has left this part of Scripture entirely to 
the theologians. Regardless of theological differences we can 
agree that the agriculture of the Garden was good, because it 
supported the race comfortably and without labor. What more 
could it possibly do for mankind? 

"The inhabitants of Eden plainly lived without toil. They 
wer^ born to that leisure for which we strive so fiercely in this 
work-a-day world. So far as the man was concerned, the sting of 
the expulsion was the fact that he had to go forth and eat bread 
in the sweat of his face. Jehovah did not enforce this sentence at 
hard labor by putting a guard over Adam. Eve was not placed 
in charge, nor yet the wily serpent. The offender was merely 
driven forth from the garden that was full of trees. The trees 
had made it Paradise. Every tree that was pleasant to the sight 
and good for food was there. The inhabitants walked about in 
the comfortable shade and ate. When thirst arose, there were the 
juices of fruits and palm wine. 

"The spontaneous products of the Garden even supplied the 
first demand for clothes. On that bitter day of expulsion these 
erstwhile happy harvesters of tree-crops were driven forth from 
this rich and fruitful shade, driven to the fields to eat the herb of 
the field and to win bread by the sweat of their faces. 

"Since we are all more or less lazy, and only some of us are 
religious, it is foresooth amazing that our efforts at being restored 
to Paradise have been limited so exclusively to the domain of re- 
ligion. This is the more peculiar because the religion has to be 
taken on faith, while the agriculture of Paradise could be seen 



and felt and tasted, and that without labor. Even yet no one has 
striven to restore it for the relief of a weary world. It is high time 
the husbandman took up his Scripture. 

"Eden is a Babylonian tale, and Babylonia is a land of dates. 
It was so, long, long before Abraham went up toward Palestine 
out of Ur of the Chadlees. At a time which was to him mytho- 
logical, the date tree had become sacred to his Semitic ancestors 
along the Euphrates. It is from this Babylonia that we now re- 
ceive each Autumn our argosies of dates wherewith to regale our- 
selves at Christmas time. To us they are sweetmeats, but to the 
dwellers in the land of dates they are a great staple of life. 

"Eden was in this land of date trees, and a visit to a date- 
growing oasis makes clear the whole story of the Garden and the 
expulsion. 

"No other land could then, or can yet rival the oasis in this 
picture it gives of the easy life and the burning contrast of ex- 
pulsion. 

"This easy living in the oasis is made possible because of the 
workings of that wonderful engine of production — namely — the 
date tree. That is the agricultural lesson from Eden that we 
should go back a bit toward Paradise and learn to use trees, which 
are Nature's greatest engines of food production. For a few thou- 
sand years we have taken the expulsion and curse too literally, and 
have been living as the fallen Adam was told to — by digging and 
sweating and growing the herbs of the field. Trees should be 
made to work for us as they do for the Semite. Little do we of 
the West appreciate the potency, the almost automatic potency, of 
these botanic engines, the date tree. No other type of agricul- 
ture produces half so easily. 

"Now, as for the last five or ten thousand seasons, the date 
tree owner begins his year's work in the springtime by climbing 
his tall trees to fertilize their blossoms. The ascent is easy be- 
cause of the natural steps furnished by the notching left by the 



stubs of the leaves of past years. The blossoms of the fruitful 
female palm are fertilized by a dust of pollen shaken from a sprig 
of male flowers in the hand of the husbandman. This economi- 
cal device permits a very small proportion of male trees to suffice 
and the garden can be filled to crowding with the fecund female 
trees. Once the blossoms are fertilized, little more is done for 
the tree but watering at rather frequent intervals, and this is often 
a light task, the mere diversion of a stream. Many of the palms 
are cultivated only one year in three, but with this small labor they 
are heavy yielders. The open feathery palm leaves permit much 
light to filter through, so that oranges, figs, and apricots grow be- 
neath the palms, and garden vegetables can grow among these 
lesser fruit trees. The vegetables pay the cost, the rest is profit, 
and the high values are explained. 

"Thus the date garden leads all other kinds of agriculture in 
the amount of food produced, and this tree merits the title of 
King of Crops on the purely civil service basis of leadership in 
performance. Small wonder that the prehistoric Semite called it 
sacred. Pound for pound, the date is as nutritious as bread, and 
when harvest is weighed, it is three to twenty-fold that of wheat. 
After a score of years or less, the best wheat lands are exhausted 
by continuous production ; but we know that certain oases have 
yielded dates regularly since they were visited and described by 
Roman writers a score of centuries ago. They are to-day so 
prized that the Arab owner will refuse $5,000 in gold for an acre 
of good date garden. Its yield warrants the valuation." 

Old World Date Yields 

As Paul B. Popenoe, editor the Journal of Heredity, of 
Washington, D. C, is accredited as a most careful and thorough 
investigator, both from the scientific and practical points of view, 
I shall refer to his volume on "Date Growing in the Old and New 
Worlds," from the chapter on "Profits of Date Growing." Mr. 



Popenoe is one of the few American date experts who has made 
an exhaustive journey through the native date countries in order 
to thoroughly acquaint himself with every phase of date-growing 
and date-selling, 

"Date growing is not a 'get-rich-quick scheme,' but if a man 
gives to it the attention that would be necessary to make a suc- 
cess of any other business, he should make a success of growing 
dates. His profits will depend first on the size of the crop, and 
second, on the price which he receives for it. 

"As to the first, the usual estimate in the United States is 100 
pounds for each adult palm per year. I believe this is a conserva- 
tive estimate. Let us check it up by the experience of other peo- 
ple, bearing in mind that a palm should yield more in the United 
States than it would in another country, because it should get bet- 
ter care. 

"The Algerian government estimates the annual production 
of a Deglet Nur palm at 40 kg., or 88 pounds, but declares that 
this is probably an under-estimate. As Deglet Nur regularly 
bears more heavily with us than it does in its original home, 100 
pounds seems a reasonable estimate here. Most of the North 
African varieties bear more heavily than this. For Tunis, 
Masselot considers Luzi to be the shyest bearer, with an annual 
yield of 55 pounds, and Rishti and Hamraya the heaviest, at 220 
pounds each. The average of 92 varieties which he has investi- 
gated is 116.5 pounds per tree. 

"In Egypt, the English estimate a yield of 172 pounds per 
tree, and yet the trees are set much closer together than in the 
United States. Egyptian varieties bear more heavily than those 
of some of other countries; a yield of 250 pounds for Birket al 
Hajji in Arizona, is not considered exceptional. 

"In the Sudan the average yield, according to official returns 
is 160 pounds. 

"All of these estimates are the work of trained scientific ob- 
servers. When we turn to the Arabs we cannot feel the same 




\ iil 



confidence, but I have checked up their estimates in many dis- 
tricts and believe I have reached correct figures. 

"At Baghdad, a palm which yields less than 100 pounds a 
year is considered a very shy bearer indeed. Khustawi, for 
instance, is so considered; but even with the lax Arab methods 
of cultivation it averages from 75 to 125 pounds, while a crop of 
300 pounds of Zahidi or Barban is quite ordinary. Conditions 
are about the same at Busreh and in Oman; I would put 150 
pounds as the average yield of a good palm." 



What Imperial Valley Date Profits Should Be 

Continuing further, Mr. Popenoe says: 

"What can be done elsewhere can certainly be done in the 
United States. Any one can find out from the government what 
their average yields are, and if he does so, I am satisfied that he 
will admit that the figure of 100 pounds is very reasonable. 

"Of course, exceptional yields can sometimes be found. A 
crop of 500 or 600 pounds is not rare among Arabs, and has been 
closely approached, if not equaled, in America. If we could se- 
cure some of the religious atmosphere of Mohammad's home, 
we might do even better, for Faqir Amin al Madina says, 'we 
have seen and bear witneess as to palms, that some palms bear, 
each one, verily, three ardabs of dates.' 

"With 100 pounds per tree and 50 trees to the acre, we have 
an annual yield of 5,000 pounds, or two and one-half tons, of 
dates to the acre. The price at which these will sell has been the 
subject of much difference of opinion. At present it is not diffi- 
cult to sell the highest grade of dates, well packed, at $1.00 or 
more a pound in California. There is no reason why this price 
should not be maintained for some years yet, while home-grown 
dates are still a novelty. It certainly will not be maintained 
permanently, but there will always be a demand for the finest 



dates, packed like confectionery, at confectionery prices. As to 
the bulk of a crop of dates from palms of standard varieties, prop- 
erly handled, my own idea is that the price is never likely to fall 
below 20 cents a pound to the grower. This I offer as an average 
price — there will be many culls that must go at lower figures, but 
there should also be a considerable amount of fancy fruit which 
will bring two or three times the sum mentioned. Taking the 
average at 20 cents a pound to the grower, with the conservative 
estimate of 100 pounds to a tree and 50 palms to the acre, we may 
calculate on a gross annual return from a well-managed planta- 
tion at $1000 per acre. 

"This should begin with the fifth year. In the third year 
some varieties should bear enough fruit to pay the cost of up- 
keep, and in the fourth year to return a fair profit. From the 
fifth year they will bear well for a century or more. 

"This figure takes no account of the production of offshoots, 
which, with choice varieties, promises for some time to be fully 
as valuable a product as dates in the United States. Some re- 
markable records have been made already in this respect, but to 
be well within the limit of probability we will assume that each 
tree yields only one offshoot a year, from its fifth to its twentieth 
year of age. Such a production should not diminish the yield of 
dates, while if the offshoot is sold at $5 (a price considerably be- 
low that now current), it will increase the annual gross revenue 
of the plantation by $250 per acre, and it is probable that with 
most varieties two offshoots a year could be taken from the palm, 
without reducing the average yield of fruit below 100 pounds. 
This would make the annual gross return of the plantation $1500 
per acre. I believe that the offshoots alone will be, for some 
years, of sufficient value to pay all expenses of running a prop- 
erly managed plantation in the United States, leaving all returns 
from marketing fruit as clear profit. 

"This would mean, under the best conditions, $1000 a year 
per acre net profit from a plantation. This estimate does not 



agree with many others that have been put forward, and in such 
a case each man may weigh the evidence and judge for himself. 
Many think the price of dates will be much higher than I have 
assumed, and I am far from saying that they may not be right — 
in fact, I know they are right so far as the immediately succeed- 
ing years are concerned. Those who get into the date industry at 
once in the right way can make profits that, for a few years at 
least, will be extraordinary." 



Expense of Maintaining a Date Farm 

"The probable expense of running a date plantation should 
not be large as compared with the expense of other agricultural 
enterprises," says Mr. Popenoe, in the chapter on "Profits of Date 
Growing" in his book. The difference between good and bad man- 
agement is so great that one can hardly quote definite figures, but it 
may be pointed out that the amount of labor is not great at anytime 
of the year, and that even during the picking of the crop fewer men 
will be needed than with many agricultural staples. If the owner 
is his own manager he will have all the profits for himself, so 
there is certainly a great future in the industry for men who own 
plantations of ten or fifteen acres. One man should be able to 
keep up such a plantation alone, at all times of the year except 
during the crop picking season. If a man has to be hired the 
expense will be greatly increased, unless on a large estate, for 
only a thoroughly competent man can be considered. In a favor- 
able situation such as Coachella or Imperial Valleys the expense 
of picking the crop is not great ; if it is ripened by the slow arti- 
ficial method the cost will be nothing save that of the little labor 
required, and the expense involved in marketing is less than that 
with most fruits, because the date is not perishable, does not need 
to be kept in iced cars or cold storage, and can always be held 
for a favorable market. As the industry is new, there is natur- 
ally much yet to be learned about marketing dates to the best ad- 



vantage, but that is a problem which Americans are well able to 
handle, and when date growers have as efficient a co-operative 
organizations as the orange growers of California, the percentage 
of profit to the owner will be very high. 

"Perhaps the safest and most helpful way to consider the 
cost will be to make a comparison with the cost of lemon grow- 
ing in this State. Any other industry would do, but I take the 
lemon growers because information regarding their operations has 
been collected with particular care, and may be obtained by any 
one who is interested. 

"It will be found, reference being had to the cost of lemon 
growing, that the date grower has the advantage of the citrus 
grower so far as cost of production is concerned, while his profits 
from the sale of fruit are much greater. There is every reason to 
believe that the grower can bring a date plantation into bearing, 
including the cost of land and water, for not more than $1000 an 
acre and, after it is in bearing, pay the entire expense of upkeep, 
for some years at least, by the value of his offshoots, leaving all 
the income from the fruit as profit; and this net income ought to 
be, in a well-managed plantation of the best varieties, not less 
than $1000 per acre per year. For the first few years, while fancy 
prices prevail, the grower may secure a much larger annual net 
return if he is keen enough to grasp the opportunities. And since 
he may pay a large part of the expense of bringing his planta- 
tion into bearing by growing a subsidiary crop, we may well con- 
clude that there are few agricultural opportunities today more 
attractive than that presented by the culture of the date palm." 

Imperial Valley Ideal for Dates 

When I became convinced that date growing was a practical 
and proven branch of agriculture for a well-defined portion of 
Southern California, I went still further and obtained invaluable 
information on soil analysis, and care of palm trees. Here 



again I desire to refer to the statements made by Mr. Popenoe in 
his book, "Date Growing in the Old and New Worlds." He de- 
votes an entire chapter to the date palm countries, of which the 
following excerpts are most interesting to us: 

"In the United States, Southern California is indisputably 
the region best adapted to commercial date culture. Salton 
Basin, and its close neighboring valleys, with their slight rain- 
fall, intense summer heat and prevailing sand soil, exactly fill the 
conventional requirements as they were outlined in the preced- 
ing paragraphs. For late varieties which require a high sum 
total of heat to mature, and for the Saharan varieties in general, 
this valley cannot be surpassed. It would probably prove equ- 
ally well suited to date varieties from the interior of Arabia, if 
we could secure any such. In the Sahara, Deglet Nur dates, 
which grow in the heavy clay of the Ziban, are scarcely inferior 
to those which grow in the light sand of the Suf. The lower part 
of the Colorado River Valley — which includes Imperial Valley — 
may be classed with these two, physical conditions being much 
the same. 

"Within the two states, California and Arizona, are the only 
regions where it can be said at present with confidence and on 
the basis of real facts that date culture is profitable in the United 
States. There are some other regions where it is possible, and 
where it may be and probably will be proved to be profitable, but 
real data has not yet been accumulated which enables one to 
speak with certainty. 

"For the man who wants to go into the commercial produc- 
tion of dates in the United States at once, the facts which I have 
quoted concerning other lands, will have little importance; he can 
only be advised to confine himself to the Salton Basin in Cali- 
fornia, or the lower lying parts of Arizona. In deciding as to the 
climate for dates, it has been the custom to sum up the maximum 
of heat but this is a misleading method, for Vinson has clearly 
shown that the growth of the palm varies, not according to the 



heat of the day, but according to the added heat of day and night; 
that is, the palm grows best when the night temperature is near- 
est that of the day, provided both are fairly high. 

"In the choice of soil, few fruits seem so easily pleased as 
the date. It is usually said that a sandy loam is best, and such a 
soil is certainly good; but the statement that it is best is a dogma 
that would be very difficult to prove." 

The Date Garden — a Perpetual Income 

Imperial Valley having demonstrated conclusively its adapt- 
ability to commercial date growing; recognized date authorities 
everywhere realizing this and advising the planting of dates here; 
the right kind of land being accessible and water in abundance — 
the logical thing then, was to no longer let this opportunity slip 
by, but to start a date garden myself. This I have done, setting 
out some 750 of the finest imported date offshoots I could ob- 
tain, which cost $7.60 apiece. Mr. Williams has planted 400 im- 
ported palms costing $7.60 each — approximately ten thousand dol- 
lars invested in imported date offshoots in our combined acre- 
age. This money is most conservatively invested, we believe, and 
from it we anticipate the return of a giant revenue. We have 
studied the date palm industry diligently and can conscientiously 
recommend an investment in it, knowing, approximately, what 
returns are to be expected. 

In addition to the planting of two date gardens for ourselves, 
we have chosen a 320-acre tract, near ours, which we have 
divided into 32 date gardens and which we now offer for sale. 
This tract is situated in what is known as the Mesquite Lake dis- 
trict of Imperial Valley. It is five and a half miles southeast of 
Brawley and six and a half miles northeast of Imperial, by county 
roads, and within two miles of a railroad station. This district is 
acknowledged to be one of the richest portions of Imperial Val- 
ley. Only thirty-two investors can avail themselves of this oppor- 



tunity of investing. First, because there will be only thirty-two 
date farms or gardens developed; secondly, because only a lim- 
ited number of desirable offshoots can be secured and imported 
into the United States from year to year. The date palm is a sac- 
red institution in these primitive countries, from which it is ex- 
ported into California, and much trouble is experienced in per- 
suading the native to part with his young date trees at any price. 
Hence, the scarcity. 

Each of these subdivisions is to have five acres planted to 
genuine imported date offshoots in orchard form, and the rest put 
into alfalfa, barley or some similar crop. The Reed- Williams 
Corporation — of which I am the President — owns this 320-acre 
tract, will take charge of it and develop every one of these indi- 
vidual properties up to and including the time of their maturity, 
when they are to be turned over to the owners. 

At no time will the investor need be concerned about his date 
garden, his trees or their outcome. He will have no taxes to pay, 
no water bills or assessments to meet, no hired man to worry 
about, no unhealthy trees to replace at his expense, no spraying 
or pollinating to do before his orchard is turned over to him — 
everything will be done, and done in expert manner, by a com- 
petent manager. 

To properly bring a date orchard into bearing, which re- 
quires about seven years, one should have practical knowledge 
on the subject of date growing as well as experience in handling 
the soil and irrigation in Imperial Valley. It is therefore im- 
practicable for one who is not equipped with these requirements 
to undertake the propagation of a date orchard on a small scale; 
it would be too expensive to retain the services of an experienced 
date cultivator to oversee a limited acreage. But with our larger 
acreage, comprising 6400 palms, we can afford to pay a compe- 
tent man to superintend the growing of these date orchards and 
for this purpose we have secured the services of Mr. F. O. Pope- 
noe, President of the West India Gardens, than whom there is no 



higher authority on date production in this country, and whose 
services we are able to employ only because of his personal in- 
terest in the development of the date industry in this country. 

A perpetual income of $5,000.00 a year from a five-acre Cali- 
fornia date farm, is not all the benefit to be derived from the in- 
vestment I now suggest. You have an additional five acres 
planted to alfalfa, barley or other small crop when your fully 
matured date farm is turned over to you — and from these adjoin- 
ing acres you should receive a revenue proportionate with in- 
telligent cultivation, or you can plant it to dates with offshoots 
from your own palms. 

From each female date palm one or more offshoots will be 
put forth every year — until the tree is some fifteen to twenty years 
old — enough of these should be kept by the owner to plant his re- 
maining five acres to date palms. I am convinced that the 
thirty-two men who invest now will want to double their date 
farms in this manner. However, if they do not care to do so, they 
should have no trouble in disposing of the offshoots at a good 
price. Today such offshoots are selling in Imperial Valley at 
$7.50 to $10.00 each. 

Doubling your acreage in date palms means no less than 
doubling your income. This is true with most forms of commer- 
cial plant life, perhaps, but the reward will not be as large in 
other agricultural lines as from a well-kept date orchard. Profit 
is, of course, the prime factor in interesting any investor, but cost 
of land and production, governed by profit, is the first great con- 
sideration. I have told you briefly how this corporation is pro- 
viding a date farm for thirty-two men; now let me give you the 
cost of such an undertaking. 



Cost of a Date Farm 

The thirty-two farms such as I have just described — five 
acres of each set to imported date offshoots — are now offered at 
$6,250.00 each. The reasonableness of this price will be apparent 
when you consider that date offshoots, such as we will plant in 
these thirty-two farms, are selling to-day at $7.50 to $10.00 each, 
together with the cost of expert care. Our wholesale importation 
of 10,000 offshoots, however, will secure for us the reduced price 
of $5.00 per palm. On each of the individual farms 200 im- 
ported offshoots are to be set out in orchard form, forty to the acre. 
Our price of $6,250.00 is based upon a conservative estimate of 
what each acre of this land set to imported palms will be worth 
immediately as the young palms are set out — that estimate being 
$1,000.00 an acre for the five-acre orchard. In addition, the ad- 
joining five acres of each farm must be easily worth $250 per 
acre, as they will be in condition to convert into more date orch- 
ard at any time. 

Payment is to be made for these farms in the following man- 
ner: $1,000.00 upon the execution of a contract of sale, and 
$250 payable every six months, on the first of March and Septem- 
ber of each year until all but $2,000.00 of the purchase price has 
been paid. A reduction of $2,000.00 will be made to every pur- 
chaser who may elect to take advantage of our cancellation 
offer — this making the actual cost to you of each date farm $4,- 
250.00 instead of $6,250.00. 

This offer to cancel the final payment of $2,000.00 is prob- 
ably the most unusual feature of our proposition for these date 
gardens. It is infinitely stronger as a proof of our claim than 
any other selling argument we could advance; it shows the great 
degree of confidence we have in the date industry ourselves, and 
it should give added confidence to every prospective owner. 



Our Cancellation Offer 

In lieu of the final payment of $2,000.00, due under the con- 
tract of sale, we will accept the crops to be harvested the same 
year in which said final payment falls due, and we will convey 
the tract by deed, free and clear of all incumbrances, together 
with eight shares of water stock appurtenant thereto, upon 
notice to the corporation on or before the first day of March in 
the year the said final payment becomes due; besides, we will care 
for the orchard and gather the crops at our own cost and ex- 
pense and yield up the possession of the tract when the dates there- 
on have been harvested, in the fall of that year, in good condition. 

If our estimate of the value of this crop which we offer to 
take in lieu of the final payment of $2,000.00, when the palms 
are seven years old, is nearly correct, it will be worth double 
$2,000.00 or more ; so we do not consider that we are taking grave 
chances in offering to pay $2,000.00 net for it. 

In other words, I extend to a limited number of investors 
the opportunity of buying a ten-acre farm in the rich Mesquite 
Lake district of Imperial Valley, the five acres of date land alone 
valued at $1,000.00 an acre. Seven years are required to mature 
these date palms, at the end of which time these owners will have 
a never-ending yield of a delicious fruit that should sell for 
twenty cents a pound at the very minimum, according to the pre- 
dictions of horticultural experts. For this perpetual income an 
investment of $6,250.00 is required, or $4,250.00 where the pur- 
chaser relinquishes his claim on the crop of dates and grain the 
year his final installment is due. 



Your Success Assured 

Imperial Valley is now producing very high-grade dates 
both for confectionery and commercial purposes. The Brock 



Date Farm near Heber, California — a short distance from our 
date land — made a successful showing last year, although it is 
generally acknowledged that this date garden is by no means up 
to standard, because it was greatly neglected up to the time Mr. 
Brock undertook its management. However, Mr. Brock received 
85 cents a pound for his best dates, 50 cents a pound for his sec- 
ond-class dates, and 20 cents a pound for what are known as 
"culls," in 1913, and this year the Brock garden presents a very 
much improved appearance, many of the trees at this writing hav- 
ing 200 pounds of fruit on them, for which Mr. Brock will 
doubtless receive a high price. 

At Indio, California, is located one of the Government Ex- 
perimental Stations where date culture is being forwarded. On 
an adjacent ranch are four trees that produced 300 pounds of 
fruit last year (1913), which sold for $1.00 a pound. Twelve 
imported trees on the same ranch are now laden with 75 bunches 
of dates. An offer of $25 apiece for some of the offshoots from 
these palms was refused, as the owner wished to set more palms 
and considered them worth that to himself. 

On the American Date Company's farm, situated a few miles 
from Mecca, California, are some three hundred to four hundred 
palms, ranging from six to eight years old. The crop on these 
young palms last year was estimated at 2,000 pounds and sold 
for 75 cents per pound. 

There are many other prominant instances . where date 
palms in Imperial Valley and vicinity are producing from 90 to 
200 pounds of fruit per tree, and if expert opinion may be relied 
upon, such yields are not out of the ordinary in this locality. 

I have here: in the office some very fine specimens of dates 
grown in Imperial Valley last year, all of them being decidedly 
larger, of a better color, and more tempting generally than any 
date I have ever seen sold in the United States, even in the most 
exclusive confectionery stores. 



It is Mr. Paul Popenoe's belief that there will always be a 
high-priced trade in fancy boxed dates in the United States, al- 
though not much of the total output can be expected to sell in 
the distant future at $1.00 a pound, as it did in Los Angeles last 
fall. It is reasonable to suppose, however, that for this confec- 
tionery trade, prices will not fall below 50 cents a pound for some 
years. At that time, there will be the larger trade in strictly first- 
class dates, preferably in small boxes. The most profitable part 
of this trade will be the early sales of Persian Gulf varieties dur- 
ing the months of August and September. These clean, de- 
licious, attractive Imperial Valley dates ought to bring not less 
than 20 cents to 30 cents a pound for many years to come. Please 
bear in mind that we are going to plant forty date palms to the 
acre — 200 in each garden — and that at 30 cents per pound and an 
average yield of 100 pounds per tree, your income will be 
$1,200.00 an acre — or $6,000.00 gross from your five acres of 
dates. 

Furthermore, the consumption of dates is certain to increase 
in the United States as the production increases. At present the 
United States consumes a ridiculously small amount, only 16,000 
tons a year — or something less than a pound for every family per 
year; whereas, in the Arabic countries, a family often consumes 
ten or fifteen pounds per day. Many residents of the United 
States have never tasted, clean, fresh dates, and when they find 
they can buy them at reasonable prices, the demand is certain to 
jump. The present consumption will be multiplied by ten, 
twenty or thirty, and still be small compared with that of fruits 
which are less nutritious. No matter if all the land in the United 
States adaptable to date culture were planted with imported 
palms, the supply would still be far less than the demand. 

Mr. Popenoe adds further on in his book: 

"The French in Algeria can put out Deglet Nurs, however, 
that are packed in an attractive manner, and owing to cheaper 
labor can probably do so more cheaply than we can. At present 



choice dates, well packed, sell at twenty and twenty-five cents a 
pound in France and Algeria, and as the demand is steady the 
price will hardly go lower than this. They may possibly inter- 
fere with the sale of American dessert dates at fancy prices, such 
as $1.00 a pound, but their competition can hardly be considered 
if twenty-five or thirty cents a pound retail is taken as the basis for 
calculations. 

"Furthermore, the market for fresh dates will always be a 
local monopoly, and I believe it will be a profitable one, for the 
fresh date is not too perishable to be shipped, and is liked by 
everyone who tastes it. 

"The total annual consumption of dates in the United States 
is now in the neighborhood of 32,000,000 pounds a year, or some- 
thing like five ounces per person per year — a ridiculously small 
amount. The great food value of the date allows every one to 
purchase it as an integral part of the family diet — not as a lux- 
ury or dessert, but with the feeling that it is a part of his nourish- 
ment. Furthermore, the American public now scarcely knows 
the value of the date in any form except raw, and the teaching 
of methods of cooking will increase the consumption. So far as 
the factor of supply and demand goes, I believe that the con- 
sumption of dates will far exceed the production in America for 
many years, and that locally-grown dates will hardly find com- 
petitors in the imported fruit. As people come to know what de- 
licious, clean, fresh, home-grown dates are, the price may be ex- 
pected steadily to rise rather than fall, no matter how fast the pro- 
duction increases in California and Arizona. 

"These are the reasons which lead me to believe that an esti- 
mate of twenty cents a pound gross return to the grower is con- 
servative. Others may figure on a different basis, arrive at a dif- 
ferent conclusion. Any one interested in the industry can con- 
sider the facts and from them form his own estimate." 

It is probably needless to say that we anticipate receiving 
handsome profits from the production and sale of these date gar- 



dens. We do not, however, expect to derive any profit from the 
sale of the land, as it is being put in at its reasonable value, to- 
day. Our profit will arise from the use of the land in the mean- 
time, and from ofifshoots and dates which the palms will produce 
from and after the third year until the tract is turned over to the 
purchaser. It should be understood that the imported ofifshoots 
are kept in nursery-rows for one year from arrival, to get them 
well rooted. They are then re-set in the orchard. They should 
afford, at least, one offshoot the second year after being set in the 
orchard, and two, or more, offshoots each year thereafter from 
each palm, for the next fifteen or twenty years. (All but one off- 
shoot should be taken away from the palm, as soon as the offshoot 
is large enough to be rooted, for the good of the palm.) We 
have seen that the palms begin bearing fruit when they are three 
years old. We estimate that the ofifshoots will be worth not less 
than $4.00 each. The yield of fruit will increase from year to 
year, coming into full bearing at seven to ten years old. If you 
will take the pains to estimate what we will thus receive, includ- 
ing the products of the intermediate land, I think you will agree 
that the profits are ample enough for us to aiiford to carry out our 
undertaking in good manner. 

But the profit to be thus derived is not the chief incentive 
for this undertaking. We own several other quarter-sections of 
land in Imperial Valley and, naturally, we are interested in such 
products of the Valley as may be depended upon to increase the 
value of these lands. Real estate value is measured, accurately, 
by what it will produce. Knowing that excellent dates can be 
grown in the Imperial Valley, and that no other crop of which 
we have knowledge is as profitable, we believe the encourage- 
ment of the date industry there is the best way to enhance the 
value of these lands, and that it will make them the highest priced 
of any in this country. 



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is la 
have 

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do not, however ''xjx'cf to derive nnv nrofit from the 

>f the land, as it is be ' in at its i^ .Me value, to- 

Our nrorir will arise from the use of the land in the mean- 

loots and dafcs which the palms will produce 

Aiiii ; 1 year until the tract is turned over to the 

cr. if sheM.jtd be undfTsiood rhat the imported offshoots 

year from arrival, fo get them 

t in the orchard. They should 

jcoad year after being set in the 

;>iiOOts each year thereafter from 

...1 or twenty years. (All but one off- 

f roni the palm, as soon as the offshoot 

ir^r fKf. gTQod of the palm.) We 

liey are three 

orth not less 

om year to 

d. If you 

includ- 

■! agree 

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ot which 




vaiuc of u\ 
of any in tl 



est priced 



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Your Decision 

Your decision in this matter of buying one of these gardens 
will be based largely, and rightly so, upon the responsibility of 
the Reed-Williams Corporation, owner of this tract of land. For 
this reason the officers of this corporation invite your most rigid 
investigation, both of the Reed- Williams Corporation as a unit, 
and of its individual members. 

This corporation owns and operates considerable valuable 
land in Imperial Valley, besides the individual members of the 
corporation own several good farms in the Middle West. It is 
abundantly able financially to carry out its undertakings. It 
maintains offices in Los Angeles and El Centro, California. 

In the same manner that I was convinced of Imperial Val- 
ley's future for big date profits I believe you will be convinced. 
The date is a new phase of agriculture to many of us, yet the most 
important one Californians have overlooked. 

Assuming that what I have here stated has somewhat inter- 
ested you, and that you would be pleased to see and to sample 
some of these California-grown dates, we have placed an order 
with Mr. Johnston for some of his dates, and we will take the lib- 
erty of having a representative call upon you with some of them, 
and to give you any further information we have upon the sub- 
ject. I believe you will appreciate this privilege of obtaining one 
or more of these date gardens when you have investigated the sub- 
ject of date growing as fully as I have. 

Yours truly. 



President 
Reed - Williams Corporation. 






NtWITT 
AWICIBWO 
ACCNCX 



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